Knocked a big hole in my canoe. Procedures to fix it??

[woody]

There is one main strip that runs all along the center of this boat. that is destroyed. the fiberglass is cracked around it.
check out the pics.

i know i could just slap a patch cloth over the holes after some basic sanding. but the thing will visibly have a gap where no wood can be seen.

what should i do? cut it into a square and add wood in there? then epoxy the cloth on it? or what




the inside piece of wood, not the actual strips, is ok. but its hard to work with cause its pretty much held down with epoxy

[Todd Bradshaw]

Best bet is generally to feather out the fiberglass around the hole with a sander, making sure to get rid of any delaminated glass. Then cut the broken areas of strips out, replace them with new wood (butt joints are fine). Getting a bomb-proof glue bond between strips isn't critical, since most of the strength will be the fiberglass, but the neater and stronger the core work is, the better. Once the new wood is faired in and smooth, re-glass the area (a couple layers of 6 oz/ is usually plenty) overlapping the old glass by a couple of inches. Fill over it with additional coats of resin, sand it smooth and varnish it.

[woody]

Thank you that's exactly what I'll do. I talked with my autobody neighborthis mornmorning. He said dang near the exact thing. I'll post up pics

[ambr607]

That's a scary hood you have in the background!

[woody]

heres my progress so far.

[woody]

Steve I like the scary side of life, it reflects in my truck, and somehow i think that this hole in the canoe is proof too. Ya next time Ill avoid rapids in this canoe. Whoops.



i love that skull camo!

[woody]

I have been taking pics of most of my progress. Ya I'm new to this forum, but not forums
I'd like to at least contribute to this site since I like it. :cheers:

So I had this split in the 1/2 x 1/2 piece that basically held the strips together when I built it. So I figure its critical. I didn't snap a pic, but I glued it and had an elaborate mirage of clamps holdin it all down. Then I carefully fit in strip pieces in place of where they once were in place of this hole I carved out. Here is that pic. The small gaps I later mixed sawdust with glue to only fill the void as that method really has no strength holding ability.

[woody]

then I clamped it all down.

[woody]

i slapped a sheet of fiberglass on the inside to hold it all down.
i changed from my original plan of building a base under this repair.
my lack of tools and supplies hinders this step.

i have all the tools in the world to fix any motorvehicle but no wood tools. ( i borrowed the clamps)

[woody]

i sure hope this helps someone out along the lines and that im not aimlessly posting this crap that nobody will use or appreciate...